* Liebeschuetz, John Hugo Wolfgang Gideon. ''[http://books.google.ca/books?id=t2MbAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s Barbarians and Bishops: Army, Church, and State in the Age of Arcadius and Chrysostom].'' Clarendon Press, 1990. ISBN 0198148860

The History of the Church is a vital part of the Orthodox Christian faith. Orthodox Christians are defined significantly by their continuity with all those who have gone before, those who first received and preached the truth of Jesus Christ to the world, those who helped to formulate the expression and worship of our faith, and those who continue to move forward in the unchanging yet ever-dynamic Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church.

330 Byzantium refounded as Constantinople / New Rome, Christian capital of the Roman Empire, and is dedicated to the Theotokos by Emperor Constantine; Amoun and Macarius the Great found monasteries in the Egyptian desert.

333 Constantine commissions Eusebius, to prepare 50 copies of the Bible for churches in the new capital.

340 Conversion of Wulfila to Arianism, subsequently missionizing the Goths with heretical doctrine; Council of Rome under Pope Julius where Athanasius and Marcellus are declared innocent and maintained in the communion of the western churches; Council of Gangra held.

363 Emperor Jovian reestablished Christianity as the official religion of the Empire, stating that he preferred the Orthodox view, and that Athanasius was to be permitted to return to his see at Alexandria.

ca. 375 Emperor Gratian relinquishes the pagan imperial title of Pontifex Maximus, bestowing the title on Pope Damasus I of Rome (although it was not until the fifteenth century that "Pontifex Maximus" became a regular title of honour for Popes).

410 Fall of Rome to the Visigoths under Alaric I; escape of Patrick back to Britain; Emperor Honorius tells Britain to attend to its own affairs, effectively removing the Roman presence; Honoratus founds a monastery on island of Lerins.

442 First Council of Vasio (Consilium Vasense I, modern Vaison-la-Romaine), November 13, dealt with the question of the unity of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, attended by Nectarius Bp. of Vienne who played an active role in defending Orthodoxy against Arianism.

450 First monasteries established in Wales; Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britian; death of Peter Chrysologus.

Notes

Some of these dates are necessarily a bit vague, as records for some periods are particularly difficult to piece together accurately.

The division of Church History into separate eras as done here will always be to some extent arbitrary, though it was attempted to group periods according to major watershed events.

This timeline is necessarily biased toward the history of the Orthodox Church, though a number of non-Orthodox or purely political events are mentioned for their importance in history related to Orthodoxy or for reference.